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Beware of A&M Rentals (Key West, FL)

In April 2009 my wife and I and two other couples rented a 6-seater electric car from A&M Rentals (www.amscooterskeywest.com). Everyone (6-7 staff members) we came in contact with was rude and unresponsive. We were only in Key West for a few hours, having arrived on a Celebrity cruise. If we were not under a tight schedule, we would have walked away. Never the less, we went through with the rental. We had to wait for 45-50 minutes before they would “check us out” prior to leaving the depot. And within 2 hours the car began to run out of power; we were told it would last for 6-8 hours (the entire day). We were forced to return the car and asked for our money back, not trusting their equipment and by now despising their customer service. We were forced to wait another 45 minutes at the depot for someone to assist us. We spoke to staff, assistant managers, and the senior manager but to no avail—they refused to do anything for us. Then they made us wait another 35 minutes to get our security deposit back. We walked away having spent $220 for only two hours in the car and what is worse is that we wasted precious time in Key West on our vacation. This company should be avoided by all, awful people.

To "GoTravel" -- I stated that " ... but to no avail—they refused to do anything for us." No, we did not get our money back.
To "LoveItaly" -- I'm not a competitor or other staff member. Husband and father of two who also works 12 hrs/day. And have never posted anything on a travel site, too busy for such things. A&M Rentals was just so bad I felt inclined to warn others.

I want to say "everythng" but can't so I will say that all of the things I'm familiar with, hotels, restaurants, tours (The Ghost Tour, e.g.) snorkeling and/or kayaking trips, depend heavily on repeat customers and word-of-mouth for continued buiness. If A&M consistantly did this it would be gone in a year since there is ASAP Scooters, Sunshine Scooters, etc, etc.

But if you name something in Key West, a hotel, a restaurant, a tour or a snorkeling activity, I will show you one terrible and one superb review or comment for it, then the rest will be generally good or generally so-so. This was a bad expirience which was unfortunate, but A&M is usually pretty consistant in the service and used every year by people. So you should take very bad comments, as well as very good comments, for what they are worth, and balance them against other comments.

Worst Place to rent anything from. Horrible customer service. My buddies and I went to key west for a vacation, and this place ruined the entire trip. When we first entered we asked for 4 scooters, they provided us with a reasonable price and so we decided to rent. I asked them about insurance and they said you won't need it. They told us to go around the once for practice. We did that and my buddy ran into a curb. They saw what happened (there was no damage other than a scratch on the side) and called us back over. They gathered around the scooter, talked, came up to us and said "well guys its alot of damage, im going to cut you guys a deal and charge you $650". Are you serious, the scooters are not even worth that much. They could've said $2,000 it wouldn't matter because in the end they already have you're credit card pre-approved. This is a shady business, I would recommend everyone to stay away from it.

As I read the reviews from over the years, I believe them all, just to bad I didn't read them before we went there. This place A & M Scooters is nothing but a scam. To make a long story short, not only did they charge us for damage to a scooter that was not done by us, they forged my husband signature to receipts that he did not sign. . . . can you say forgery? Well I know I can and our lawyer. Every time I try to contact the owner "Andy" which I was told was his name, for some odd reason he is never there. Well finally I talk with the manager, sent over copies of forge signature, no reply. I text him to see what his response was going to be, well he is on his boat and will call me when he get back to work. I think you just trying to buy more time. I will be waiting, but not to long.

Whatever!!! I only did business with A & M Scooters once, and my first experience with them was awful...so how could I not bash them! And since you most likely work for the company, you will try to make everyone who read this think we are posting this because we are your competitor. Sorry not this time. Too bad there no way to upload pictures of receipts,I have proof that I did business there back in September of this year. And I am going to do everything in my power to let everyone know of A & M Scooters of West Key located at 523 Truman Ave Fl 33040 is running a SCAM to get your money from old damage already done to their rentals . . . So make sure you make note of every little Dent,Scratch,Marks. Better yet take pictures or you will be paying for them to get a new scooter or money for them to stick in their pocket. Don't bother calling the police, like we did because we were told it was a Civil matter. Police officer M.Yang. Now there is plenty more I could say to prove that all this took place, but I just wait on you to say something else. Now you have a Great Day!!

When there are so many first-time posters on a thread, all with condemning comments, I am suspicious, extremely suspicious. They are creative, however, spanning several years. So, I'll give them points for creativity!

Tell me why there are not any positive reviews? Creativity points . . don't need them or want them. So I guess you also work for the company. Like I said before, I did business there only once, had a bad experience, so of course my FIRST post is going to be "CONDEMNING" and you won't have to worry about a second review because I will not be doing any business with them again. Matter of fact I do not plan on going back to Key West. Oops let me take that back, I might see you in court!! Can you say F-O-R-G-E-R-Y.

> And since you most likely work for the company,
> you will try to make everyone who read this think
> we are posting this because we are your competitor

You're free to look at my hundreds of postings to this board since 1999.http://www.fodors.com/community/profile/paulrabe/replies.cfm
Unlike you, I didn't just come to this forum out of the blue, with one and only one purpose in mind.
And if you think I can be an employee while living in the Philly area, then you must have less intelligence than I gave you credit for.

> Too bad there no way to upload pictures of receipts

Actually, it's ridiculously easy to do so -- it took me less than two minutes to photograph and upload a receipt I'm keeping in case my rental company claims I didn't buy any gas.

Sonya, there's a very easy way to convince people that you didn't come to this forum for discussing travel just to bash a company: post something dealing with travel. A trip report about Key West, for starters, with emphasis on what you enjoyed. People who resurrect a 18-month old thread in their first and only post, and who then accuse people who call you out on this fact as employees of that company (when it's easy to prove we are not), are just asking to be viewed as shills against that company.

First of all, I Google A & M Scooters to find places were I could give a review on them, not about my vacation. This is one of the few places I found and you better believe every site I can pull up to give a review on A & M Scooters about my experience I am. I did not see anything that said "tell us about your vacation". Why would I know or really care about where you claim to live? That have nothing to do with Intelligence, so please keep your insults to yourself. Well I am tired of you and this conversation, I have nothing else to say but this BEWARE A & M SCOOTERS OF WEST KEY, FLORIDA MAY HAVE GOOD RENTAL PRICES . . . BUT THEY MAKE IT UP BY CHARGING YOU AND THE PERSON BEFORE AND AFTER YOU FOR THE SAME DAMAGES THAT WAS ALREADY DONE, THAT THEY NEVER REPAIRED. YOU DO THE MATH, IF 10 PEOPLE COME ALONG AND GET CHARGED $200 FOR THE SAME THING, WOW THAT'S GOOD MONEY....WHAT A SCAM. Now that's all said and done, have a great life.

I'm too busy laughing at these silly people who hop off a cruise ship and instead of walking Key West spend a couple hundred dollars to rent an electric scooter. Do they also hire people to fan them and carry an umbrella over their heads?